Eventide (Resbang 2016)
by eecmidford
Summary: Eve and Macy Fannon, meister and weapon, are twin souls sharing a body. Wishing to know the story behind their apparent abandonment as infants, the girls travel to their parents' homeland, Ireland, where they encounter challenges for which even their DWMA training has never prepared them. Will they find a new family at the end of their journey, or will they succumb to a magic olde
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Strings of red and gold decorated the late-afternoon sky, splashing the dark mesas with light. Two meisters walked side by side, their clothes sand-speckled by the gentle wind: Eve Fannon,

one-star sword meister, and her classmate Death the Kid, son of the Shinigami.

"Hey Kid, how come so many of our missions bring us to deserts?" Liz called from her weapon form. "It's getting cold, and I haven't had anything to eat since lunch."

"Well, that's your own fault, isn't it?" Kid replied. "The rest of us had a nice healthy dinner at The Buttered Skull, to which we very kindly invited you."

"You know I had a good reason not to go with you guys! I was on the last episode of the third season of _Gallows Girls_ , and you refused to wait for me to finish watching!"

"We had a reservation for 5:00!"

"You're the Grim Reaper's son! You can get in anywhere, anytime you want, just by showing an ID!"

"She has a point," Eve said. "Anyway, let's get going on this mission! Demonic sand turtles, huh? We can take 'em!"

"Hey sis, what sound do turtles make?" chirped Patty.

"I don't know, Patty, maybe a squawk?" said Liz.

Patty roared and spat. "Like this?"

"That…was definitely not a squawk," Eve said.

"Shut up, everyone!" Kid held up a finger. "I think I heard something."

After a moment of silence, Eve heard it too: a cacophonic rush of roaring and spitting, rumbling through the sand beneath their feet. "Patty, you're a genius!" she cried. "We found the kishin!"

"…For better or for worse," said Kid. "Eve, you'd better have Macy transform now."

"Right." Eve closed her eyes to better feel her sister's soul. She and Macy were twins and partners; meister and weapon, respectively. Macy was beautiful—two slender blue foils that slid out through her twin's palms when needed. In human form, she was nothing but a small bump on the back of Eve's neck. Macy had stopped growing in the womb, but not before her soul came into being right beside Eve's.

"Okay, we're ready!" Eve called to Kid as the ground trembled even harder beneath them. The sloped backs of enormous turtles, dozens of them, bubbled through the sand and surrounded the meisters. Then came their faces, eyes fiery red and teeth gnashing, followed by their legs, with foot-long claws as sharp as Death Scythes.

Beads of nervous sweat flew from Liz. "Uh, I really don't like this, you guys!" she yelled.

"Eve, use Ice Blade on the ones over there!" shouted Kid. "I'll take care of these guys!" He began to shoot.

"You hear that, Macy? Ice Blade!" Eve shouted over the roaring and spitting of their attackers. "Let's go!"

Razor-sharp blades of ice flew from Macy's two blades, piercing the turtles' giant shells. Their roaring grew to a guttural shriek, and they began to swarm, long, wet teeth bared, ready to attack.

"Uh, Kid? I think I just made them angrier!" Eve cried, slashing desperately at the three turtles closest to her.

"Same here. We need a new tactic!"

"Wind Blade!" Eve screamed, deciding in a panic to use her and Macy's newest skill. A formidable gust of wind hit the turtles head-on, buying her time to prepare her best technique, Fire Blade.

"Death Cannon!" shouted Kid, deadly soul force cascading over his assailants. Evil turtles were flying left and right, their red kishin souls hovering in the stiff desert air.

"Fire Blade!" Flames streamed from Macy, completely overtaking the army of turtles at last. "YES!" Eve cheered. "I got 'em, Kid!"

"Nice! We're doing well over here, too!" he called, coughing through the settling smoke.

"All in a day's work," said Eve as the meisters high-fived twice (for symmetry).

"You know, I never really liked the Ninja Turtles much anyway," Liz said.

"Ooh, I did! Michaelangelo was my favorite," said Patty.

"I liked Leonardo," said Eve. Macy's soul jittered happily in agreement.

"Guys…I have some bad news," Kid said as the ground began to rumble again. Eve turned to see a giant— _giant_ —turtle shell rising from the scorched sand.

"Are you kidding me?!" Liz cried.

"He must be the alpha dog!" Eve said. "Kid, ready to resonate?"

"Yes."

"LET'S GO. SOUL RESONANCE!"

Macy's tiny soul quivered and grew with energy. Spark by spark, the twin souls morphed and danced in a heightened ecstasy of force. Eve shut her eyes and found Kid's soul, that bizarre and beautiful Shinigami wavelength.

"RESONANCE LINK!"

Recognition…connection…augmentation. They were ready. The love between their five souls rose in an electric harmony—Eve almost pitied the alpha turtle for having to fight them now.

Blades flew with deadly precision from Eve's hands. Kid's soul wavelength roared into the kishin's side. They were intense. They were unstoppable. They won.

"Giddyup!" Patty giggled, riding an imaginary horse as the team made their way back to Death City.

"Eve, how many souls did we get in all?" Kid asked.

"Sixty-one, but I took an extra so you can have a nice even number, don't worry."

He nodded in relief. "Thank you."

"Where to now?" said Liz. "I know you guys had that big fancy-schmancy dinner, but I'm still hungry for pizza."

"I could eat some pizza right now," Eve said.

"Yay! Pizza!" Patty squealed.

"Pizza it is," said Kid. "Eight equal slices, two for each of us."

Liz frowned. "Patty's going to want _way_ more than two slices."

"Sixteen, then. But they'll be a lot smaller."

"No, Kid. We're getting a _normal pizza._ That means the same number of slices they would give to anyone else."

"All right, then I just won't sit with you."

"Fine."

"I won't pay for your asymmetrical pizza, either."

"F-fine."

Liz and Kid continued their bickering right until the group's arrival at Pizza Morgue. Eve didn't mind it—living with the likes of Black*Star, she'd actually come to enjoy a certain amount of noise and discomfort. She would have felt wrong without it. Macy was happy, too. Full of juicy kishin souls, she was bouncing and humming inside Eve like a giddy baby. _God_ , Eve wished she could hug her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

7:12 a.m. Black*Star had made them late to school once again. Tsubaki and Eve rushed, panting, into Class Crescent Moon, relieved to see neither the crazy Professor nor his obnoxious rolling chair.

"You made it. Nice job," said Soul. "Where's Black*Star?"

The girls exchanged glances. "We lost him," said Tsubaki. "He stopped to harass Hiro out on the veranda. Eve and I figured there was nothing we could do, so we just went on ahead."

Maka nodded. "Hiro will be fine. He's survived a lot worse things," she said darkly, and they all shuddered at the memory of the Holy Sword Excalibur's reign of terror.

The dull roar of wheels crescendoed from down the hall, and the classroom fell silent. Professor Stein collapsed through the doorway with a familiar blue-haired nutcase in tow.

"Black*Star!" Tsubaki screamed as her meister was dragged to the blackboard in chains.

"Crazy old man! You can't chain _me_ up! I'm Black*Star, the big man who helped defeat the Kishin!"

"You've been late to class nearly every day this quarter—that is, on the days you weren't skipping to fight someone," Stein said calmly as he fastened the final lock.

"Damn, he's never getting out of that," said Soul.

"What an idiot," said Kid.

"What a horrible thing to do!" cried Maka. "Where's Professor Stein going to write out his lesson now? He's got chains covering the entire blackboard!"

" _That's_ your problem with it?" said Liz.

Stein pounded his desk. "Listen up, all of you. Before we start today's lesson, I've got an announcement from Lord Death. Parents' Weekend is coming up."

Beaming, Eve pulled out her phone. For once, she couldn't wait for Parents' Weekend. She didn't have a mother or a father, but she had Hannah, her mentor from St. Daniel's Orphanage. Perched right on the Delaware coast, St. Daniel's had been Eve and Macy's home until they moved to Death City two years ago. Eve had been on…well, not the best terms with her friends and teachers from the orphanage when she left, but Hannah had stuck by her and Macy in their decision to attend the DWMA.

Scrolling through her contacts, Eve finally found Hannah's number. _Are you still coming to Parents' Weekend? I'm really excited to see you!_ she texted, adding an enthusiastic emoji.

"As you all know, Parents' Weekend is a time for all the folks of Academy students to visit for a couple days, follow you to all your classes, take up space, ask stupid questions and ultimately just check to ensure we're not killing you here." Stein sighed. "Of course, you're in mortal danger all the time as part of your training, but we try not to let your moms and dads find out about that part."

Eve's phone buzzed, and she leapt to her feet. "It's Hannah!" she cried. "Professor Stein, I have to take this call!"

"Detention, Fannon. 3:00 today," was the Professor's response. Eve didn't care about being punished, even though Stein's detentions were feared schoolwide as the most scarring experiences—physically _and_ emotionally—of any student's life.

"Hannah!" she squealed into the phone, her hands shaking as she stumbled excitedly into the hall.

"Evie!" came the familiar voice of the woman who had raised her. "Honey, I would love to come this weekend…but I just can't."

Eve felt her smile fall. What to say? The disappointment was such a heavy weight on her soul, and on Macy's. Both girls felt like dissolving into tears.

"Eve?" Hannah said. "Hon, please. You _know_ I'd just love to come and see you and your new school. But there's been this awful flu going around at St. Daniel's. Even the big kids that usually help out with the little ones are stuck in bed. Kacie and I are the only ones up and about, and we just can't let our children get any sicker."

Eve was silent.

"Evie…"

She hung up, jamming her finger into the ugly red button as if to kill it. _Eve, you idiot,_ she scolded herself. _How could you expect her to forgive you after all that happened? You took all the good things you had there and let them slip away without a fight._ Self-abuse was a sickly sweet respite. She wanted to hurt.

Tsubaki was worried about Eve. Her phone call with Hannah shouldn't have taken this long…unless the two of them had gotten to reminiscing on the past and lost track of time. Something told her this wasn't the case, though.

She found her best friend nestled under a bathroom sink, her black hair sticky with tears and her green eyes a shiny mess.

"Hi," she said, sitting down to rest an arm around Eve's neck.

"Hi."

"She can't come, huh?"

Eve nodded.

"I'm sorry."

A pause.

"I know it's not my fault she can't come. Everyone at St. Daniel's is sick."

"Of course it's not your fault."

"But it _feels_ like it is. Tsubaki, I screwed up so bad. Hannah—all of them—did nothing wrong, and I just cut them off. I'm so…so…" Another storm of tears took over.

"Ashamed?" Tsubaki asked.

"Uh-huh. Sometimes, I…I feel like coming here was a mistake, like I abandoned the people at the orphanage that took such good care of Macy and me."

Tsubaki grabbed her shoulders. "Don't you dare say that, Eve. If you hadn't come to the Academy, Black*Star and I would never have met you. Sure, Hannah and everyone at St. Daniel's loves you, but so do all of us here! And I know that if your birth parents were here, they would be _crazy_ about both of you."

Eve's head shot up. "What?"

"What?"

"Say that again."

"All of it?"

"That last part. My mom and dad."

"Eve, what are you getting at?"

She stood up, combing her tear-soaked hair away from her face, her eyes sharp with a newfound intensity. "Tsubaki. I've been alive for fifteen years, and I know _nothing_ about my parents. Can you believe that?"

Tsubaki was silent. She knew where this was going, and she didn't like it. Eve had had these moments before; a sudden obsession with her past that came and went with the fervor of a divine revelation. Her parents were practically a non-entity. Eve and Macy had nothing but DNA that could possibly serve as evidence of their roots. They'd been left on the steps of St. Daniel's as infants, just like children in a fairy tale.

"There has to be _something_ , right?" Eve continued, pacing furiously back and forth like a mad pendulum. "I mean, two whole people don't just disappear, especially when they have kids!"

"Eve…"

"Come on! People don't just leave their babies without at least a letter saying who they are, right? Not in real life!"

"That's what happened, though, Eve! You can't just decide you're going to find the identities of two people who obviously don't want to be found!"

"But I'm their kid! I have the _right_ to know!"

"I think you're setting yourself up for a lot of pain."

"I don't care! Everyone else here knows at least their parents' _names_. I know _nothing_. I want to find them. I have their surname, right? Fannon? That's a start!"

Tsubaki sighed. She supposed there was no point in explaining that "Fannon" was likely a false name. "Okay. I suppose there's a _very_ small chance that Hannah might know something about your parents. A _very small chance._ Maybe Kid will take you on Beelzebub if you really want to talk to her in person."

Eve didn't know what to feel. It was like that swoop of energy that came right before the first big drop on a rollercoaster; the promise of something scary and exciting coming around the bend. She laughed shakily. "Wow. I'm _actually_ doing this. My parents. _My_ parents…and Macy's. I'm going to know who they are."

Kid looked up at Eve from his seat, arms crossed. "Let me get this straight. You're actually asking me to fly you to Delaware _right now_ , just because your former teacher _might_ have some small bit of information on your elusive birth parents?"

" _Please_ , Kid!" Eve pleaded. "Beelzebub is so fast, it won't even take the whole afternoon!"

"Why can't you just call Hannah?"

"Kid, this is important! I have to talk to her in person!"

He sighed. "Okay. We're going as soon as class gets out, though, got it?"

She grasped him in a smothering hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Kid, I promise I'll get you something really symmetrical as a thank you gift! Anything you want!"

"Careful what you promise, Eve," said Liz. "He's been getting all teary-eyed over the pyramid of Anubis again lately."

Kid's eyes swam with tears. "It was just so beautiful! And I destroyed it!" He broke down into messy sobs.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Hey, Eve?" There's the beach down there," Kid said. "Can you show me which building is St. Daniel's?"

Eve blinked and peered at the foggy scene below them. "There." She pointed.

"Right." In a sweeping arc, Kid landed neatly on the chopped waves and skidded to shore.

Eve's eyes swam as she set eyes on St. Daniel's for the first time in three years. It looked exactly the same as it always had; three levels of warped gray clapboard shrouded in a gentle mist above the dunes.

"It's very…um…" began Kid.

Eve nodded. "Beautiful, right?"

He winced. "I was going to say messy."

"You'll survive." With a laugh, she threw an arm around Kid's stiff shoulders and led him to the front door. "Thanks again for bringing me here." She knocked.

The door opened, and Hannah's brown eyes widened in greeting. "Eve!"

Eve took a deep breath. "Hi, Hannah."

After a long pause, Hannah stepped forward and hugged her tightly. Tears pricked at Eve's eyelids, and inside her she could feel Macy's soul swelling with happiness.

"This is Kid, one of my friends from the Academy," Eve said, nudging him. He shook Hannah's hand, then stepped back awkwardly, hands in pockets.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Kid," Hannah said through the tears that spilled from her long eyelashes onto her light brown skin.

"Can we come in?" Eve asked.

"Of course, darling!"

Seated in the seafoam-blue parlor of the orphanage with a cup of sweet tea, Eve suddenly found herself at a loss for words. She and Macy were so happy to be back in their old home—it didn't feel right to demand information from Hannah with no warning, not after all these years of hurt and separation.

"So, what brings my lovely Fannon girls and their friend here today?" Hannah asked.

Eve froze. She and Kid exchanged glances, and he nodded encouragingly.

"Um." She swallowed. "I've been thinking a lot lately about where Macy and I came from. I know you found us abandoned on the front porch, and if that's not the whole truth I want you to be completely honest about it. But I've been feeling like it's not. The whole truth, I mean. Hannah, do you know _anything_ about my mom and dad? Or at least one of them?"

She breathed out, feeling at the same time like the battle was halfway done and just beginning. Kid took her hand under the table in silent solidarity.

Hannah sighed and lowered her eyes. "Well. Actually, I…" A deep breath, and she began again. "I wanted to tell you when you left St. Daniel's. I debated with myself for what seemed like hours. I thought it was right to give you all the information before you went away, but at the same time…well, it's just that you girls had been through so much in that time before you moved away, and I was afraid that…I mean, I didn't want to…well, knowing this might have hurt you more, I guess."

"Knowing _what_?" Kid said. "Eve's smart. She can handle knowing whatever you're hiding, I guarantee it. Doesn't everyone have a right to know where they came from?"

"Well of course, and I thought about that," Hannah cried, "but-"

"Can _I_ talk, please?" said Eve, standing. "It's _my_ business more than anyone else's." She looked into Hannah's eyes. "It's okay. You were right, at the time. But now everything's different. Macy and I have fought, like, a million monsters together, and we've both become much stronger than we were before. We want to know everything."

Silence.

Hannah stood. "All right, then. It's just a very little thing. It was tucked into your clothes when we found you." She ran into her office across the hall and returned with a large safe. "It'll be in here," she said, rummaging through the box's miscellaneous contents; birth certificates and other memorabilia of the children at St. Daniel's. At last she found what she was looking for: a postcard.

Eve took it. The paper was warped and its edges were brown. "Treetham, Ireland," it said under a photograph of an ivy-covered church. She turned the card over to see in inky black penmanship:

"Eve is the big one. Macy didn't quite make it, but her soul's there, if you listen closely enough. Their surname is Fannon."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Ireland!" Eve burst out, exploding through the apartment door.

"Hey Eve," said Black*Star, hanging upside down from his beloved chin-up bar. "What's an Ireland?"

"The _country_ ," Tsubaki told him. "What about it, Eve?"

"Eve. Please, think about this," Kid said, catching up to her and gripping her shoulders. "Have you ever even _been_ to Ireland?"

"I went to England on that mission with Black*Star and Maka, remember? England's pretty close to Ireland. Plus, if it's where my family is from, then it's not even technically a foreign country, right?

Kid sighed. "Well, I'd beg to differ, but if you really want to…"

"Wait, back up a little," said Tsubaki. "Eve, your family's from Ireland? That's great! So Hannah did have information for you?"

Eve produced the battered postcard and handed it to her. "This was left with Macy and me when we were babies. Treetham, Ireland! I've already looked it up online, and it's on the coast just a few miles from Dublin. Isn't that awesome?"

Kid ran an exasperated hand through his hair. "Eve. You need to calm down before you make decisions like this. I mean, you're going to need money for transportation and food—the plane ticket alone is going to cost a fortune—and besides, what are you even going to do once you get there? Knock on every door in this Treetham place asking for your parents? You don't even know their first names. They may not even be alive."

"Shut up, Kid!" Eve snapped. "I can't _not_ take this trip. All of you know where you came from. Macy and I have the right to know, too! Now that I've decided to do this, I just can't stop. And don't you dare try and make me back down!"

"Shh." Tsubaki grabbed her arm. "He's just worried because he's your friend, Eve. You won't be alone in this, though—Black*Star and I are coming too."

"Huh? We are?" Black*Star said, somersaulting off his equipment. "Awesome! Those kilt-wearing leprechauns won't know what hit 'em as soon as this big guy shows up! Plus, we get time off from school…right?"

Tsubaki giggled. "Yeah, sure. Kid, you in?"

"I'm afraid I still don't approve of taking off like this without a solid plan, however, I will supply you all with plane tickets," Kid sighed.

Black*Star grinned. "It's decided, then! Let's do this!"


	5. Chapter 5

"YAHOO! I am so ready for my giant Coke!" Black*Star yelled as the plane lifted from the runway.

"Black*Star, _shh!_ People are trying to sleep and read!" hissed Tsubaki. "Can you just be respectful for once?!"

Staring at the sweeping desert below, cacti and mesas growing smaller and Death City nearly obscured by soft clouds, Eve found she could nearly drown out Black*Star's yelling with her turbulent thoughts. It was a long flight, and at last the dork wore himself out and fell asleep on Tsubaki's shoulder, drooling all over her clothes (though she didn't seem to mind; on the contrary, she blushed a little and ran her fingers tenderly through his wild hair). It was silent now on the plane, and Eve could finally do what she had wanted desperately to do for days: talk to Macy.

Soul perception was not a part of Eve's skill set. Though she envied Maka's and Kid's ability to look into the souls of others, she had never quite been able to master it herself. But she could _feel_ her sister's soul, if not actually see it. It was warm, bubbly and vivacious, and often gave out communicative chirps and hums that only Eve could hear and understand. Sometimes, if there was a catchy song playing, Eve swore she could feel Macy trying to dance. She didn't have a body or a voice, but she was a person, and a beautiful one at that. Eve loved her more than anyone.

She closed her eyes and focused. There was Macy, her tiny soul vibrating with nervousness. _It'll be okay,_ Eve told her. _Tsubaki and Black*Star are going to be with us the whole time._

Macy buzzed in response. She was afraid.

 _No one can fight like Black*Star and Tsubak cani. Plus, you and I can do anything we set our minds to, right? That's what Miss Marie always says!_

Macy was silent. Eve knew what she was thinking about—the infestation of the kishin Asura's madness that had prevented the two of them from fighting with their friends in that most terrible and rewarding of battles. The two of them had wanted so badly to help their friends, to fight for the Academy, and the seething guilt of their succumbing to the madness wavelength haunted them still.

 _Macy, that was almost a whole year ago. We've gotten so much stronger since then! Think about it—we could barely do Wind Blade the first time we fought Arachnophobia, and now we're blowing kishin away with hardly any trouble at all!_

But this wasn't the only thing worrying them. The truth was, what they were going into now was harder than battling any kishin. What if their parents had died horribly? Even worse, what if they were alive but didn't wish to see their children, having abandoned them out of pure callous resentment? If that were the case, not even Black*Star's incredible fighting skills would be able to sort through the girls' grief.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 _Kid glided through a deep green dreamworld, looking for his friends. This was Ireland, right? That's where Eve had gone with Tsubaki and Black*Star. They were bound to be somewhere on this dewy stretch of countryside._

 _A light was on in a dilapidated cabin, and he ran toward it. Where had it come from? A minute ago, Kid could've sworn there wasn't anything—not even a single tree, much less a small building—anywhere in sight._

 _"_ _Black*Star!" he called as shadows flitted to and fro behind the cabin's slanted windows. "Tsubaki! Eve! Macy!"_

 _He tugged on the door, then kicked, then threw his lean body against it. It was shut tight. He peered through the window, and what he saw made his soul quake._

 _They were surrounded by high-level witches, brilliant and deadly, the kind even Death Scythes hoped and prayed they would never face in battle. Dark and bony, they dressed in old brown skirts and decorated their thickly veined necks with gold chains and precious stone pendants. Their faces were blurred…or was is that they had no faces? The witch sitting by Eve had a gnarled horn that shot from the crown of her head, and she was knitting. They were all in a circle, knitting, horns of various numbers and shapes jutting through their black hair. Tsubaki and Black*Star were there, too._ Black*Star? Knitting?! _Kid would have laughed if this thick fear weren't drizzling through his blood._

 _He pounded the warped glass, shouting his friends' names. They looked up and smiled, but not at him. They were among the witches now, knitting and knitting their way through to the end of time._

"Liz! Patty!" Kid scrambled upstairs and rapped frantically at the girls' bedroom door.

"Kid, what the hell? It's gotta be, like, five in the morning," Liz groaned from under her thick pink covers.

Patty giggled in her sleep. "Oh Mr. Truelove, you're too much!"

"Patty, it's me, you idiot! Not your imaginary suitor!" Kid cried, shaking her roughly. "Get dressed and eat something healthy, both of you. We have to go!"

"Go where?!"

"Ireland, of course! I had this dream, and I swear it was real—Black*Star and the others were knitting with these witches, and-"

"Wait. _Black*Star? Knitting?!"_

"Shut up, that's not important! Come _on_ , you can sleep in weapon form if we go right now on Beelzebub. Get up!"

"You're making us go all the way to Ireland…because you had a scary dream." Liz raised an eyebrow.

" _Not_ just a dream—how many times do I have to say it? I was _actually_ there, Liz. I felt the wind, and the dew on the grass, and I smelled the-"

"Fine, fine! Patty, come on." Liz dragged her sister, still smiling pleasurably at her dream of Mr. Truelove, from her bed and heaved her onto her back. "Kid, someday you're going to pay us back for the amount of crap you put us through."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It was a bumpy road that led to Treetham through the lonely countryside. Roots and grass and even the occasional sapling split through the pavement and rustled under the weight of the taxi.

"So, Treetham, huh?" said the driver in his wild brogue. "Blimey, haven't heard o' that place for years and years. Used to think it was just one of those nice little fishing places, but then people started saying weird things about it. Then just like that, we never heard a thing about it again."

"What weird things were they saying?" asked Tsubaki.

"Oh, you know." The man chuckled. "There's a lot of superstition in this country, but you probably know tha'. Whole bunch o' nonsense about fey folk and goblins and such. All total rubbish, of course."

"Would you happen to know of anyone named Fannon who lived there?" said Eve.

"Fannon? I dunno. You'll find loads of families named Faonn or Faolan, though. You maybe related to them?"

Eve lowered her eyes. "That's exactly what I'm trying to find out."

"Arrived," said the GPS.

"Whoa. What happened there?" said Black*Star. They were coming up to the remains of a village. Stone buildings held their ground, roofs intact, as if they'd been abandoned only yesterday. No one lived in them now, though, that much was certain. Snakes and rats scurried from cracked windows and disappeared into gardens overgrown into small forests. Rusted cars lay on their sides like tipped cows, their black interiors gaping and moaning with the salty sea wind.

"Please tell me that isn't Treetham," said Tsubaki. "That poor village hasn't been lived in for at least ten years!"

"Arrived in Treetham," said the GPS.

"Bloody hell," said the driver. "You want me to turn around?"

"No!" said Eve. Everyone turned to stare at her.

"Eve. There's nothing here," said Black*Star.

"You can't say that!" she cried. "Not after we came all this way!" Inside her, Macy's soul was a veritable vessel of anxiety. "My parents' postcard, the _only_ thing Macy and I have left of them, said Treetham, and I won't leave until I've found _something_ here that will tell me about them. Even if it's just, I don't know, a receipt. You understand that, right, Tsubaki? Think of your brother! You shut yourself inside the Enchanted Sword to save him, so why can't I look for my parents in an abandoned village?"

Silence. Tsubaki's eyes filled with tears at the mention of Masamune. Eve was right—in many ways, this was no different than her fight against her brother.

"I'm with you, Eve," said Black*Star with a grin. "If it's weird or dangerous, it'll be right up my alley, right? I can't miss a chance like this to show Ireland what a star I am!"

"I'm with you, too," Tsubaki whispered. "Of course."

"Eh…I think I'll just stroll along the coast until you're all finished?" said the driver. "Just holler when you need me."

"Thank you, sir," said Tsubaki, bowing politely, then quickly turning red at the man's puzzled look. _Of course—people don't bow to each other in Ireland,_ she thought, mentally smacking herself.

While Eve may have been the natural leader, Black*Star strode ahead, leaping over toppled wheelbarrows and taunting squirrels and rats. Tsubaki laughed a little and shook her head. She loved that little pain in the ass too much.

They searched every building, top to bottom, until their stomachs screamed for food and their bones creaked with fatigue. Tsubaki wondered if their driver was still down at the beach. If he left them, what would they do? It was too far to walk, and they didn't know anyone here in Ireland who could come to help them.

She was baffled by the contents of the houses. They were disheveled to say the least, but what on earth could have caused their occupants to abandon them seemingly in a great hurry, leaving every last belonging behind? There were no signs to indicate a particular disaster; no bodies, scorch marks, no bullet holes in the walls. Tsubaki hadn't even seen a single weapon—unless she was counting kitchen utensils. The way Eve looked at the scenery broke her heart; her green eyes were wide and watery as she took in the destruction around her.

There was a rustle from behind the dunes outside. "Hey!" Black*Star shouted, and the others rushed outside just in time to watch a small, rounded silhouette scuttle into a sandy hole just beyond the town's edge.

"Black*Star, wait!" cried Tsubaki as her partner ran after it.

"It's a cave!" he said. "I'm going in. YAHOO!" He leapt into the hole and disappeared.

The girls stood in bewilderment. "Uh…we're going to follow him, right?" said Tsubaki.

"I don't think we have a choice," said Eve, and they plunged in.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"So, Kid, I'm assuming you actually know where this Treetham place is?" said Liz. She and Patty were in weapon form as the team cruised through the misty air on Beelzebub.

"Of course I know," he answered. "We went over the entire plan in detail back at that coffee shop you insisted on visiting. Were you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, of course I was listening, but that _was_ a pretty complicated map of Ireland you showed us. I don't exactly have a photographic memory."

"Well, luckily I do." He was exaggerating slightly, but Kid did have an exceptional memory. Maybe it was a grim reaper thing, but he liked to think it was just his own special gift.

"Ooh, a thunderstorm!" squealed Patty.

"What?!" said Liz, panicking at the sight of storm clouds ahead.

"Don't be like that, Liz," said Kid. "We've flown through worse things than thunderstorms before." He peered closer at the dark mass. "Hmm…now that I think of it, this looks like more than an ordinary thunderstorm." The gray clouds were speckled with fire, and a deep roaring like that of a savage animal poured from them into the air.

"Hold on, Liz, Patty," said Kid. "We're going in." He didn't have a choice, of course, as the storm took up the entire horizon in front of them. But there was something else inside him as well, a feeling that he _needed_ to explore this. It wasn't just curiosity, either—it felt like a duty. His father would be proud of him, he thought as he plunged into the cloudy darkness.

Their whole world went black. Their ears burst with the roaring of the storm, which snarled and spat and howled at Kid and his pistols.

"Show yourself!" Kid yelled, whirling in a circle on his skateboard. Which way was he supposed to face? Did this thing even have eyes?

The creature's one reply was a guttural snarl and a burst of fire, which caught the tail end of Beelzebub. Liz screamed. "Kid, quick! Before it catches your clothes!"

Kid zipped through the dark clouds, shooting wildly in all directions.

"Our shots aren't working, Kid!" Patty cried. "We have to get out of here or we'll die!"

"You think I haven't realized that?!" he snapped. "Hang on! I'm gonna go fast!" He took off, barely dodging more blasts of flame and lightning as the living storm shrieked with fury. Finally, he could see a patch of sky in the distance. He leaned forward to pick up speed, his brow furrowed with determination. All he had to do was get through this last cloud…

"KID!" the girls screamed together as a snap of lightning split Beelzebub. They fell, Kid clutching his weapons protectively as their incorporeal attacker roared one last time into the cold and fog-drenched ocean air.

Liz was hurting all over when she finally woke up. It felt as though her body were being jerked up and down—like that time she went horseback riding with Patty and almost bruised herself to death. She opened her eyes. There was the night sky, and some trees, and the trees were…moving?

She sat up suddenly in panic. Kid and Patty were with her, at least, and they were breathing. Kid's clothes and hair were singed—boy, would he throw a fit about that later—but neither of their sleeping bodies seemed badly injured. On the downside, Beelzebub was gone, Liz had no idea where they were, and somehow they had ended up on a rusty green truck that was careening down a weed-infested dirt road in the middle of the night.

"Hey!" she shouted over the drone of the engine. "HEY! DRIVER!"

The silhouette of their kidnapper turned slightly to their rear-view mirror, saw Liz, and ignored her.

"Yo! Don't just keep driving! I'm talking to you!"

"Liz…?" Kid sat up groggily.

"Why, hello, Kid," she said. "Nice of you to look out for your weapons, huh?"

He blinked. "What?"

"Look around, loser! We've been kidnapped!"

" _What?_ "

"Hello! Truck! Dirt road! Middle. Of. Freaking. NOWHERE!"

"Oh." Kid looked around, and his golden eyes widened as if he suddenly realized what was truly going on. "Oh…well, that's annoying."

"Yeah, and the driver won't talk to me. So basically, we can either jump off this moving vehicle and have nowhere to go, or we can let this bozo take us to whatever hellish murder site he has in mind. You're the meister—you pick."

And just like that, the truck stopped. Liz and Kid froze, their eyes locking in panic. Patty was still fast asleep, murmuring something about potato popsicles.

The driver hopped out of the front seat, humming as she locked the door with a large, old-fashioned key. Her appearance came as a shock to Liz. Expecting to see a man with bulbous muscles and a frightening scowl, she instead saw a plump, rosy-cheeked old woman with long gray hair that spilled over her enormous black fur coat.

"I'm Agda," she said with a smile. "Apologies for scaring you all."

"Uh, apology _not_ accepted!" Liz said. "We're not from this country, we don't even know where we are, there's no phone service, and oh yeah! We just barely escaped a gruesome death at the hands of some giant storm cloud demon. Then you think you're Mother Freaking Teresa because you put some unconscious kids in your truck and carted them off to god-knows-where? And _sorry_ is going to make all of that okay? I don't think so!"

"Oh, Mr. Truelove! I dare say you make a lady wish she'd paid more attention in sociology class!" Patty said in her sleep.

The old woman chuckled. "You kids remind me of my sisters. Why don't you come in for lunch, and you can tell me all about this storm cloud demon?"

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Liz threw up her hands in exasperation, but Kid quickly put a hand on her shoulder to quiet her.

"Actually, Liz, I think we should talk with her," he said. "At least for a little bit. We'll wake up Patty so that if anything happens I can use you two for defense. I have a feeling this woman is someone we should trust, at least for the time being."

Liz gaped at him. She'd always known her meister was crazy, but this was a whole new level of insanity! " _What?!_ "

Kid turned the two of them away from Agda, lowering his voice to a whisper. "She has an Irish accent and seems to know her way around the area—we can ask her if she knows how to get to Treetham from here, or at least to the nearest city. She might even be familiar with storms like the one we just got out of."

"Oh, I wasn't even talking about _her_!" Liz said. "What's craziest would be waking up Patty! Are you completely insane?! You know what happens when she gets up before she's ready!"

"Mmm, I _loooove_ you, Mr. Truelove!" moaned Patty, squirming pleasurably.

"If you don't mind," said Agda, "one of my younger sisters tends to be a grouchy riser as well, and I happen to have a hot chocolate recipe that never fails to turn her into a happy camper. I can make some for your friend."

"Hey, just because I'm coming into your house doesn't mean I'm going to let you feed my little sister some weird voodoo chocolate!" said Liz.

"Shut up, Liz," Kid hissed. "No one has to drink her hot chocolate. We're just going to talk to her."

Liz sighed loudly and hoisted Patty onto her back. "Fine, then," she said. "But when she locks us up in cages and tries to feed us to her pet wolves or something, don't come crying to me."

Agda's home was a tiny square of moss-covered stones, nestled at the foot of a tall hill overgrown by weeds and grasses. Liz's heart pounded as she followed Kid inside, stooping a little to make her way through the ancient doorway. What she saw in the parlor left her frozen—not with fear this time, but with wonder.

She had expected to find herself in a dark room, all brown and green, lit only by the macabre dance of a roaring fire. There was a fire, all right, but the flames weren't the only source of light in the place, nor were they the only thing dancing. The room was speckled with tiny lights, bursts of pink and blue and silver, each one little enough to stand on Liz's pinky finger. Together, they gave out a glow that could only be described as…

" _Un. Real,_ " Liz breathed. "Patty _has_ to see this." She reached over her shoulder and tugged gently on her sister's yellow hair.

"HEY! WHAT'S THE BIG-" Patty started before Liz clapped a hand over her mouth. The younger girl's eyes widened when she saw the lights. "Whoooooaaa! Pretty!"

"Are they…?" Kid looked at Agda.

The old woman smiled. "Some call them fairies, or the Fey Folk, or the Good People. I call them roomies."

One of the fairies alighted on the tip of Patty's nose. Patty sneezed and giggled. "Sis, it's just like Tinkerbell!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, kinda." Liz was starstruck.

"So, am I going to get to hear about this 'storm demon' of yours, or not?" said Agda. She sat at her old wooden dining table and crossed her legs like a young woman.

Kid's face darkened. "It was just what it sounds like—a thunderstorm that seemed more like a giant monster. It nearly killed us. And it took our only mode of transportation." His voice cracked slightly at these last words. Liz felt a pang for him. Beelzebub had been a gift from Kid's dad, and it was important to him. It was only a skateboard, of course, but Kid likely had seen it as more than that. Liz decided she would have to be extra nice to Kid from now on, at least until they could replace Beelzebub.

Agda nodded gravely. "That demon storm has been plaguing Ireland since the beginning of time. It's called the Brollachan, or 'Brolla,' and it truly is a monster. Even Saint Patrick himself couldn't get the best of it. Some say it's the Devil, but not me. I say it's something worse."

"How could anything be worse than the Devil?" Kid asked.

"If you ask that, you certainly don't know true evil," said Agda. "See, the Devil is pure monster. The Brolla is human. Its body is formed from the souls of humans who strayed to the side of kishin, and that makes it deadlier than anything.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The girls tumbled into the ground after Black*Star. It was dark and dirty, like a mole hole, and within just a few minutes Eve's hair was caked with thick mud. She fingered the air around her, finally locating Tsubaki's hand.

Black*Star's voice rang out through the cavernous hole, flooding Eve with relief.

"Come on," said Tsubaki. "For once, Black*Star's attitude can do us some good. Let's follow the noise and catch up to him."

"YAHOO! I'm the greatest assassin in the world—what does that make you, you tiny ugly mutant freak? You look like something out of one of those old video games from the eighties that Soul always makes me play! And that's not a compliment! What, did a dinosaur chew you up and then spit you out? EW!"

Tsubaki cringed. It was a good thing she loved Black*Star, otherwise she would have killed him right then for embarrassing her.

That unmistakable blue head was perched on a mountain of shining gold, hands on hips. The creature that was the subject of Black*Star's abuse was crouched at the foot of the pile. It was a deep brownish green, reptilian in anatomy and doglike in posture, but humanoid in face, and it was staring up at the cackling meister with wide, unblinking eyes.

"Black*Star, stop it!" Tsubaki shouted, running and tearing him down from his perch. "We want this guy to talk to us, so just be nice for once!"

The creature smiled widely. Its teeth, surprisingly, were pristine. "Your friend is funny," it said. "Why did ye follow me?"

"Sir, we're from Death City, Nevada. In America," Tsubaki explained. "My friend here is trying to find her parents, and we were directed toward Treetham. Of course, we want to know what happened here. Why was the village abandoned? Do you know?"

It chuckled. "Ye've never heard of us dobies, have ye?" The creature rolled into a reclining position on its pile of treasure. "We never tell anythin' unless ye give us a good reason to."

"Like a reward?" said Eve.

"Exactly," it replied with another wide grin. "Ol' Pillib here doesn't talk to strangers unless 'e gets somethin' out of it."

"A reward? Simple!" Black*Star guffawed. "What's a better reward than getting to hang out with ME, the great and awesome BLACK*STAR?"

Eve rolled her eyes. "Shut _up_ already, Black*Star! He means money, obviously!"

"Money, or anything of value ye got," Pillib said. "Your friend there, the tall one," he gestured toward Tsubaki, "she's from the Orient, no?" A thin slip of drool escaped his lips. "She's a pretty one. I'll take 'er for the night and tell ye what you need to know."

"Absolutely not!" Eve said, stepping up to shield Tsubaki. Black*Star leapt forward and grasped the creature's throat.

"Say that again and I _will_ kill you," he said in a low voice thick with fury.

"Let's transform, quickly," Eve whispered to Tsubaki. She closed her eyes and connected with her sister. There was that ever-satisfying scream of energy through her body, and Macy's swords emerged from her palms, glimmering in the darkness.

Pillib stared at Macy's weapon form as if it were a woman's naked body. " _Beautiful,_ " he breathed. "All righ'—I'll tell ye all about Treetham, in exchange for them two swords."

"NO!" they all cried together as Macy's soul shook with panic.

"How _dare_ you?" Tsubaki shouted at Pillib. "That's her _sister_!"

"Looks more like a couple a' gorgeous blades to me," he grinned. "Tell ye what—ye give 'em to me on yer own, or I'll get 'em by force. I'm stronger than I look like, ye know."

"Shut up, freak!" Black*Star growled. "I'll crush you into bits before you get ahold of Macy! Tsubaki—Enchanted Sword Mode!"

"Right!" Tsubaki transformed.

"Wait!" said Eve. "Don't attack him!"

" _What?!_ " said Black*Star.

She knelt in front of the dobie, Macy tucked safely back inside her body. "Sir, please. I've come all this way, and I just want to find out who my family was. My name's Eve Fannon."

Pillib froze. " _Fannon_ , ye say?" he hissed. "DAMN ye! DAMN the family of Eli Fannon!" He lunged at Eve and caught her around the neck, his mud-caked nails threatening to break open her skin.

"Let me go!" she screamed, violently wrenching herself from the creature's grasp. "Everybody run! Now!" It wasn't until she'd reached the end of the cavern floor, her neck dripping blood from Pillib's claw marks, that she realized she was alone. "BLACK*STAR! TSUBAKI!"

"Black*Star, what are you doing?!" came Tsubaki's voice from the Enchanted Sword. Come _on!_ "

"Yeah, I'll get going!" Black*Star yelled back. "Just after I kill this jackass!"

"No!" Eve screamed.

"Kill me?" said Pillib. "I won't be killed until I end that bastard Fannon's family tree for good!" He began to run toward Eve, knife at the ready…and then he stopped. Like a statue, he let his own blood soak the rocks at his feet as Tsubaki protruded from his filthy body like a stake.

Still seething in fury, Black*Star wrenched his weapon from Pillib's chest, and the creature fell at his feet.

"Your friend over there—the spawn of Eli Fannon," Pillib spat, blood trickling through his teeth, "bring her to the Witch of One Horn. She'll tell you all about that devil of a man and his hussy wife. Don't…" He heaved a wheezing breath, quaking in silent agony. "Don't…take…my…gold…"

A wealth of shining treasure fell over his crumpled body, and he was dead before the last coin landed with a hollow clink on the blood-covered stone floor.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round…"

Patty's quavering soprano was barely audible over the roaring of the wind that chased after Agda's truck. They were on their way to Treetham, the old woman having insisted on driving them. She knew Ireland "from every grain of sand to every blade of grass," and wasn't about to let a group of teenagers venture into the unknown with the likes of the Brolla on the loose.

Kid had decided she wasn't dangerous—at least, not to them. She had an incredibly powerful soul, and could most certainly inflict the worst kind of damage on anyone who crossed her. Plus, she had an army of fairies on her side. As an ally, Agda could be indispensable.

"So, how is ol' Death these days?" she asked Kid. He was riding shotgun, with Liz and Patty in the backseat.

"Do you know my dad?" he said.

Agda shrugged. "We've crossed paths. He may not even remember the likes of me—it was a long time ago that we fought."

Kid started. _Fought?_ Was Agda not to be trusted after all?

She chuckled, seeing the look of panic cross his face. "Fought _together_ , I mean. On the same side. Don't worry, your father and I were strong allies back in the day."

"You should come to the DWMA!" said Patty. "Be a professor! It'd be so cool!"

"Oh, I could never be a teacher there. I love Ireland too much," said Agda. "Besides, I'm…well, let's just say I wouldn't exactly fit in too well at the DWMA."

It was an odd thing to say, considering one didn't have to do much to "fit in" at the Academy. Just off the top of his head, Kid couldn't think of a single person there that could be described as "normal."

"So, what is this interest in the mysterious town of Treetham?" Agda said.

"Our friends are looking to find their parents' identities. Their family is supposedly from Treetham," said Kid.

Agda tilted her head toward him with a knowing smile. "But you're not with your friends right now, are you? Coincidence?"

Liz reached forward and grabbed Kid's sleeve, terrified he would say something stupid. She still didn't completely trust Agda.

Kid ignored her. "We…"

"Got separated!" Liz interjected. "We _were_ together from the very beginning, but now we're not, and it's because we got separated! That's the whole story!"

"Get ahold of yourself, Liz!" Kid hissed, wrenching himself free from her grasp. "Agda, I'm going to put my trust in you for now, but please know that if you make a _single_ move to hurt me, my weapons or anyone from the Academy, I can and will destroy you. Do you understand?"

She nodded. "I mean no harm to any of you, I promise. However, I do understand your caution. Go on."

Kid told her everything—the trip to St. Daniels, the dream, and of course the Brolla that had led them off course. "Eve and Macy just want to know where they came from and how they were orphaned, but I think there's something bigger going on around Treetham," he said. "I think that the Brolla blocked our path on purpose, and I'm afraid it's going to target the others next."

"Plus, there's that crazy dream you had," said Liz. "All those witches with horns, knitting? Weird."

"They're from an old Irish myth," Agda said, "The Horned Witches. In it, a wealthy woman is invaded by twelve witches with increasing numbers of horns, who sit and knit with her in silence until one of them asks the woman to make them a cake. The woman is saved from the witches by a disembodied voice coming from her well, which tells her to cry out: 'The sky above the mountain is ablaze!' She does so, and the witches all flee in a panic. The voice of the well then guides the woman through placing various enchantments around her house to protect against the witches' return."

"And did they come back?" asked Patty.

"Yes, but they were blocked from the house by the spells the woman had put in place: water she had used to clean her children's feet, bits of cloth the witches had woven in her home, pieces of the witches' cake, which had been filled with blood, and a heavy crossbeam used to bolt the front door."

"Geez," said Liz. "I thought you were going to say she just sprinkled salt around. Isn't that what they usually do?"

Kid shook his head. "Salt works only to hold off less powerful monsters. One needs more power than that to protect against witches."

"So does this mean those horned witch thingies are real?" said Patty.

"Who knows," said Kid. "I'd say so. A nightmare that vivid, that just _happens_ to correspond with a particular folk legend? I doubt it's a coincidence."

"I agree with Kid," said Agda. "This dream is no coincidence."

"What?!" said Liz. "Does that mean these witches are coming after us?"

"They tend to show up as omens," Agda explained. "The Horned Witches like to keep to themselves, and it's been centuries since any of them took part in any real conflict. I believe the Brolla is what you and your friends should truly be worried about."

"Why does this always happen?!" Liz wailed, slumping against the car window. "Why can't we just have a normal life, without creepy monsters coming after us wherever we go?"

"Because it's our job," said Kid.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Tsubaki was awake before she even knew she had fallen asleep. Black*Star was snoring like a rogue pickup truck, and Eve was either fast asleep or doing a very good job pretending. Their taxi driver had long since left them, and they were holed up in one of the sturdier Treetham homes. An angry wind howled through the sand- and dust-caked windowpanes, and a long flash of lightning framed the dark room in a sinister silver brightness.

"Black*Star!" she hissed. Black*Star writhed in his sleep, snoring louder. Sighing, Tsubaki got up to shake Eve.

Eve's green eyes fluttered open. "Tsubaki…is something up?"

"I don't know," said Tsubaki. "I just woke up with this feeling…" Outside the window, something smashed—a neighboring house reduced to rubble in one deadly gust of air. Black*Star sat up suddenly as though poked with a hatchet.

"WASSUP?!" he exploded.

"A storm?" said Eve. "A kishin?" Macy's wavelength quivered in her chest like a whisper saying _no, no, no, no._

"I can't tell," said Tsubaki, shrugging helplessly. "It's certainly not a normal storm, though."

"Macy, transform," Eve whispered, and those beautiful swords emerged from her sweaty palms like a shining magic beacon, just as Tsubaki melted into Enchanted Sword Mode. Black*Star caught Eve's eye and grinned, and Eve's heart relaxed a bit as she wholeheartedly forgave him for killing the dobie.

Like a demonic prima donna making her entrance, an oppressive wind broke the window and threw the meisters against the wall. Eve now had no doubts that the thing was alive—alive and hungry. She knew Wind Blade would be no match for it. Fire Blade? The storm had fire at its disposal as well, and the tattered drapes at the window were already blazing.

"Ice Blade!" she cried, but the razor-sharp icicles emitted barely a whimper from the creature.

Black*Star was in his element, of course. "Speed Star!" echoed across the village as he leapt through the burning window and sped from rooftop to rooftop, slashing and kicking like the deadliest of human hurricanes. The storm roared and flailed, just barely escaping the assassin's blows.

Macy's soul was screaming, prodding frantically at Eve's wavelength as if to remind her of the immediate danger they were in. Smoke billowed into her mouth, and her eyes streamed as she tumbled down the narrow staircase and into the cold, wind-lashed night.

The darkened countryside was a blur of deep greens and blues as Agda's truck sped toward Treetham. The roaring of the Brolla spun screams from its belly into Kid's ears. Even as he opened his mouth to instruct the girls to transform, the chilled metal of two sleek pistols was in each palm. Kid couldn't help but be reminded of his father as he watched Agda emerge from the driver's seat, rising to a posture worthy of a queen.

"KID! LIZ! PATTY!"

"Eve?!" Kid ran to hug her, feeling Macy's soul as well in their embrace.

"Guys, watch out! It's a BROLLA!" Patty yelled.

"Is that what it's called?" said Eve.

"Yes. The _Brollachan,_ technically—a cluster of tortured kishin souls that's been growing over centuries of time," said Agda. "It can take on many forms, but usually appears as the burning storm you see over there."

"Um…hi," Eve said after a silence. "And you are…?"

"This is Agda," Kid explained. "She's a new friend that's been helping Liz, Patty and I. But this is no time for stories or introductions. The Brolla is ravaging Treetham, and if we don't stop it, all of Ireland will be in danger."

Black*Star and Tsubaki were a tempest of godlike power, artfully plunging to and fro through the Brolla's thick, black innards. Kid joined the battle, and bright blasts of soul force peppered the fiery smoke. Agda, too, was a surprisingly graceful fighter in spite of her age and size. Eve couldn't tell what her weapon was—she moved so swiftly and deftly that it seemed at once like she used multiple weapons, and no weapons at all. It was a mesmerizing sight.

Eve and Macy were the first to succumb to the Brolla's attacks, thrown against the side of a large stone building during another valiant attempt at Ice Blade. She was unconscious for several seconds, and when she came to everything was black. With a start of panic she thought she had been struck blind. But then she began to hack and cough from the thick smoke, and rolled away from the brick wall to see Black*Star flattened on the pavement with his legs splayed apart and a wicked gash across his chest. Tsubaki, her face swollen with bruises, pulled him to Eve's side before returning to the fight.

"Black*Star…" Eve breathed. It broke her to see him so shattered—the invincible meister who surpassed gods and beat Asura. Eve's body ached all over—at least two ribs were cracked, she was sure, and as she coughed again from the smoke, a thick spot of blood spattered to the pavement. Her vision was blurring as her head pounded, and Macy's soul wavelength was sputtering and fading.

Though the DWMA forces were formidable, they were ultimately no match for the Brolla. An explosion from the monster's core split the city street, and in a moment all was smoke and ash.

 _Is this what being dead feels like?_

Eve's thoughts, like her breath, came in shallow ripples. She groped for Black*Star's hand, desperate for human contact of any kind. He was there, she could hear him grunting, but her fingers continued to fall only on hard, dead rubble.

She couldn't see past her own long eyelashes, but she knew the fight was over. The Brolla was triumphant.

"Brollachan!"

Eve started. She didn't know this voice coming from behind the piles of scorched ruin, but she remembered the mysterious old woman, Agda, whose identity had never been fully explained. Was she a meister? A friend of the Academy? She spoke with a queenly air of dignified scorn. "Brollachan, that is _enough_!"

The Brolla hissed indignantly.

"Ireland has had _enough_. By the authority of my sisters and I, the mothers of Earth and of Faerie, I, the Witch of One Horn, command you to disband and leave this country and its people alone! Soul Protect, release!"

The Brolla screeched in protest, flaming fingers reaching for the woman's body. She rebuffed them with an electric flick of the hand as a thick, gnarled horn emerged from her hair and stood triumphant as a crown on her silver head. Her body grew tall and large, rippling with strength…or was that her soul? Eve had never felt a soul other than Macy's, but she felt that this was what the best of souls would feel like; a spectrum of emotional depth set aflame by a warrior's ire.

She grasped Black*Star's hand, and their soul wavelengths beat together in terror as the death of the Brolla crackled and danced across the endless black of the smoky sky.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

It then hit Kid like a ten-pound weight—the music of a thousand dying souls. Agda turned to meet his gaze, tears bathing her kind face.

"The Brolla," they said together.

"What?" said Liz.

"You can't hear them?" said Kid. "I know you can't sense souls, but it's just so…so…" He trailed off as tears choked his throat and spilled over his pale cheeks.

"These are the kishin souls that the Brolla was made of, right?" Liz said. "It's a crazy idea, but what if those souls are, like, crying out to you?"

"That's not far off from the truth, actually," Agda said. "The souls that made up the Brolla have just been flung out into plain air after centuries of being trapped together in a sort of phasmological vacuum. They're confused and scared, some being able to recognize their true selves for the first time. They're not crying out specificially to Kid, but rather to anyone who can possibly help them. The ones they can reach just happen to be soul-seeing meisters."

"Can we help them?" asked Patty.

"They're _kishin_ ," said Black*Star. "They don't need our help, they need to be collected for Lord Death."

"That _is_ how we can help them, though," said Agda. "They're hurt, and there's no hope for them ever to be happy again in this world. Collecting them would be a blessing for everyone—the Brolla would no longer exist, and these souls would no longer be in torment."

"Wow, I never thought of kishin souls as being in torment," Liz said. "I guess we really don't see them as humans at all."

"The definition of kishin is 'one whose soul has been consumed by madness to the point that it is pure evil," said Kid. "But _all_ evil stems from humanity—emotions and experiences and losses. Kishin souls feel pain just like everyone else. They bring disaster to themselves as well as others, and that's why my father has them eaten."

"So we've got three weapons and a witch here," Liz said. "If we can just follow this music that Kid's all excited about, we can split the number of souls we eat, and save the Brolla!"

"It's not the Brolla anymore," Agda pointed out. "Just a sea of tortured souls. But yes, your plan could work if all our weapons are up to it."

"I'm in," Liz grinned, giving her sister a high five.

"Me too," said Tsubaki.

"Joomy and Grayson can help out, too," Agda said, indicating the two fairies that had been befriending Patty. "Fairies are low-level kishin, so they can eat souls as well. And I can absorb several souls at once. We'll make it a contest to see who can save the most!"

"A CONTEST?! Tsubaki, you HAVE to win. You HAVE to!" Black*Star exclaimed, his eyes popping.

"Okay," Tsubaki giggled, blushing.

Eve woke to a smattering of familiar voices and a dull pain in her stomach and head. _I'm sorry, Macy,_ she said through her soul. Though Macy claimed she never felt physical pain after their battles, Eve always felt awful for getting hurt. Her body belonged to both of them, after all.

"Morning, love!" smiled Agda. "Wonderful fight, wasn't it? You two were terrific!"

"Two?" said Eve. "I don't remember introducing you and Macy…"

"You didn't. I'm just psychic like that," she replied with a wink. Her horn was gone, her incredible wavelength tucked back into Soul Protect, but an aura of power still radiated around the old woman's body.

It must have been only an hour or so since the Brolla was defeated—fingers of smoke rose from their embers around the ruins of several structures. The horizon across the troubled sea was the mildest eggshell blue, a welcome sign of morning. A less-than-welcome sight was the landscape of kishin souls that floated over Treetham; the haunting remains of the Brolla. They made Eve sick to look at.

Tsubaki rushed over to her, and both girls burst into tears of relief as they hugged.

"Everyone's alive!" Tsubaki reassured her, sensing Eve's worry.

"Alive!" Eve cried in response, mostly in an attempt to convince herself of this wonderful fact. Sobs turned to laughter, and laughter to a contented silence.

"Agda, I still can't believe you killed the Brolla just like that!" said Tsubaki.

Agda shook her head. "It isn't quite dead, I'm afraid," she said. "You see, the Brolla was made out of human souls that have gone bad—so bad, in fact, that they are no longer human. It doesn't die. It _can't_ die as long as these evil souls are still in existence." She gestured grimly to the souls around them.

"But it can't hurt us anymore, right?" said Eve. "I mean, I _saw_ it tear itself apart when you yelled at it."

"When I used my magic, the souls that make up the Brolla could no longer resonate together," said Agda. "They split and were blown away. That many souls will take centuries to rebuild such a strong resonance. Ireland will be safe for a long time."

"I understand now," said Tsubaki. "The Brolla recognized the ancient form of magic you were using, the magic of the Horned Witches. That's why it reacted to you and not to the rest of us."

Just then, something began to prickle inside Eve's chest. It was so similar to Macy's wavelength, yet different _enough_ …was this what true soul perception felt like? Both girls knew whose soul it was even before their she wavered into sight and stood before them, weeping in quiet joy.

The woman's soul was warped from years of grief and trial. Its natural seafoam-blue color had darkened to a murky gray, its shape twisted and sighed with every breath she took, and its wavelength was a symphony of gasps and gulps. It entwined around the souls of Eve and Macy, who in turn dissolved into heavy tears. They hugged.

"I love you so much," Sara Fannon whispered into Eve's ear. "And I'm so sorry for leaving you."

"I love you too, Mom," Eve choked.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Your souls are even more beautiful up close," Sara said as she took a seat next to Eve on a pile of scorched rock. Agda, Tsubaki and the others stepped respectfully into the ruins of the nearest house.

"Up close?" said Eve.

"I've sensed your souls all these years, even while I was far away. I couldn't come to you yet, though Lord knows I wanted to. It hurt so much to watch you grow up in the care of others, but at the same time I was so grateful, to St. Daniel's _and_ to the DWMA."

"Uh, Mom…I can call you Mom, right?" Eve said. "I know it must be hard for you to talk about, but this whole thing—Macy and me going to Ireland and all—was so we could find out where we came from, and why we were left here all alone. And what happened to Treetham? And why did that dobie hate our dad? Eli Fannon _is_ our dad, right?" This was it—at last, she was going to know who she was. Only once the story was told would she be able to decide if this journey had been worth anything at all.

"Yes, Eli Fannon was your father," Sara began. "We loved each other so much I felt it was only natural that disaster would come for us.

"Thinking back, we were most likely first drawn to each other through our unique souls. I was the daughter of the Witch of One Horn, and Eli, though he didn't know it yet, was a magic weapon."

"Wait," Eve interjected. "The Witch of One Horn—Agda's your _mother?_ Macy's and my _grandmother?_ "

"You didn't know?" Sara said, her wide green eyes meeting her daughter's. "Yes, Agda Darchain is my mother."

"So that makes Macy and me part witch!"

"Oh, don't tell me Death still hasn't gotten over his witch prejudice!" Sara said, rolling her eyes. Mother used to tell me how he barely trusted her, and feared all her sisters—the other Horned Witches. But that was such a long time ago, I'd have thought he'd be more open-minded by now."

"Hey, that's our friend's dad you're talking about," Eve snapped. "He's not a bigot." Realizing this wasn't the point, she flushed an embarrassed pink and held up her hands. "Anyway, that isn't important just now."

"Right." Sara sighed and began again. "Eli and I were soulmates, literally—our soul wavelengths bonded immediately upon our meeting. I hadn't even thought it was possible, but I now believe our souls fell in love for us. As I said, we didn't know yet he was a weapon. It wasn't until one awful day when you girls were just tiny seeds in my belly that Eli transformed for the first time. We were coming back into Treetham after a nice walk along the beach, when a band of dobies appeared suddenly and began to jeer at me and touch my body, poking and trying to get under my clothes. Eli was so angry that I became afraid of him. His body seized up and he started growling like an animal." She paused to gulp back a sob. "Before anyone knew it, his arms were blades and the dobies were dead in a pile of blood."

She broke down. Eve felt bile rise in her throat as she suddenly understood Pillib's fury. Her father was a murderer. Macy's soul clutched at Eve's, and the sisters grieved in unison.

"I knew right then that he was gone. Something had snapped in him, and I couldn't help but feel that it was because of me. He turned on the village, our neighbors and friends, like a beast. So they all fled Treetham. I lost track of Eli during the disaster, and I haven't seen him since. I could feel his soul wavelength sometimes, though, growing smaller and weaker as the months went on. He had run to Tír na nÓg, the Otherworld—'Fairyland,' as some would call it."

"That's good, right?" said Eve. "Agda—I mean, Grandma—brought some fairies with her to Treetham, and they seemed nice."

Sara lowered her eyes. "The Fairies can be wonderful companions when they feel the arrangement is in their favor, but problems arise the minute they stop getting what they want. They had come to love Eli, and wanted him for their own. I begged and begged for them to give him back to me, as I was determined to save his soul and raise my children with him. But they agreed to send him back to Ireland only under one condition: that I take his place in Tír na nÓg.

"I would gladly have done so if not for you girls. I was seven months pregnant by then, and I wanted to raise my children in our own world, with the love of my life as their father. So I refused the Fairies' offer, and they were furious. With me in Tír na nÓg forever, they would have received three human souls instead of just one. They came after me, invading my thoughts and filling my sleep with nightmares of the worst kind. My mother and her sisters looked out for me, warning me when danger was imminent and helping me escape the Fairy warriors sent to kidnap me, but there was not much else for them to do—Fairies are the only race older and more powerful than the Horned Witches. Eventually, I ended up in America. I gave birth to you, Eve, in more pain than I'd ever thought a human could survive. I felt Macy's soul inside you, and rather than wishing she had her own body, I felt glad that you girls would always be together.

"Just minutes after your birth, my mother came to me inside my head and warned me that the Faerie King and Queen themselves were on their way to take me. I could go willingly with them now that you were born, though it broke my heart to leave you on the steps of St. Daniel's. I went to live in Tír na nÓg, and Eli was free.

"The Fairies hadn't told me everything, though, as I learned too late. By eating Fairy food over such a long time, Eli's soul had become a kishin egg. My flight to America, abandoning my children and allowing the Fairy Court to abduct me—it had all been for nothing. I protected my own soul by visiting our world as a spirit from time to time, scavenging for human food and watching over you and Macy. I visited Death City this way just yesterday, panicking because your souls were nowhere to be found. I was terrified you had been…" she shook her head as if to dispel a torturous thought. "Anyway, I was fearing the worst, unaware that you had come here to Treetham, when your grandmother defeated the Brollachan. Yes, I felt the blast all the way in Nevada. Suddenly I was free—her spell was powerful enough to split the barrier between our world and Tír na nÓg for a fraction of a second. I rushed to Ireland on a borrowed witch's broom, and a few hours later, here we are." Her eyes spilled over as she smiled at Eve. "You grew up so beautifully. I'm so proud of you."

Macy melted into sobs, but Eve's tears were silent as she let Sara hug her again.

"Wait, said Eve. "So Dad's soul became a kishin egg—what happened then? Did his soul get collected? Is it still out there?"

Sara fell silent, detatching herself clutching her hands in her lap nervously. "Well, actually…"

A haunting sound enveloped the air at that moment, like a music Eve had never thought possible. It was as if the regrets, the nightmares and the grief of all the world had been turned into a song, and it was spilling over her soul like a silvery glacier.

Sara stood up, her eyes wide and fearful. Eve noticed her hands clenched over her skirt, white and shaking. They looked to old compared to the rest of her.

"What the hell is that?!" Eve said, her voice coming out loud and anxious. Macy vibrated a terrified echo.

"Eli," Sara whispered, pale as the whitewashed wall behind her. "I hear Eli's voice in that song…his soul, it's here, and it's calling me."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Eve wanted to cry. She wanted to throw up. She wanted to laugh giddily and throw her arms around her father's wrecked soul. But Sara was already there, holding and stroking the reddish orb, washing it in her tears as if that would bring her beloved husband back to himself.

Macy buzzed as if to say " _let's go_ ," and Eve nodded. She went tentatively to their mother's side and put her arms around her. Sara leaned her head on Eve's, and they stayed like that for a long minute, both their black hair spilling together so that to the others they were suddenly indeterminable. Finally Sara took her daughter's hand and, with a sad smile, placed it on Eli's soul.

Eve and Macy felt a surge of energy from their father's wavelength, and both began to cry, silently at first, then melting into sobs as the four Fannons bonded in a bittersweet soul resonance. The sky behind Treetham was now brightening steadily—the girls' second Irish sunrise.

Patty took Liz's hand. "We have to collect the rest of these souls, don't we, sis?" she whispered.

Agda heard her and nodded. "Leave them be, though," she said, indicating her daughter and grandchildren.

Collecting kishin souls had never been a more somber task than it was now. As the sky turned from silver to pink, then yellow, then blue, the only sound in Treetham was the shuffling of feet on the grass as the weapons silently consumed the hundreds of souls. The air around Eve lightened as other unhappy wavelengths left it, and at last she looked up to see the most beautiful morning of her lifetime. The sight of her hometown, her home country, and her friends—no, her _family_ —this was a joy she'd thought possible only in fairy tales.

Of course, in a way this _was_ a fairy tale, she thought as she watched two fairies braiding tiny flowers into Patty's hair.

Agda put a hand on Sara's shoulder. "Darlings, it's time," she said, nodding to Eli's soul.

Sara's eyes were damp with new tears, but she nodded in agreement. "Yes, of course," she said quietly. She planted a lingering kiss on her husband's soul, stroking it one last time with a finger, and stepped away.

Macy's soul sunk as she realized what she needed to do. _Don't be scared_ , Eve told her. _We'll always have him inside us now_. She clutched her father's soul to her heart, loving every last bit of it until it was absorbed completely into Macy's.

Agda was the first in their company to move. "Soul Protect, release." Her formidable soul cut its way into the misty morning. "Sisters, join me."

The city began to quake, and all but Agda were suddenly thrust to the ground in a panic.

"What's going on?!" Black*Star yelled over the roar of swaying trees and crashing ocean waves.

"It's the Horned Witches," said Sara. "All of their Soul Protects have been released at once. That's twelve extremely powerful wavelengths, and all of them are coming our way."

"Ailis. Aoife. Breda. Brigid. Caitlín. Eoibh. Íde. Mairéad. Meabh. Oona. Shea. Sisters, meet your great nieces, Eve and Macy," Agda said with pride as the earth came to its senses at last.

Suddenly Eve's face was smashed into the enormous bosom of the Witch of Eleven Horns. "Oh, I've always wanted to be a great-aunt!" she boomed in an Irish brogue that was, somehow, even more prominent than any other Eve had heard so far.

"Oh, shut it, Oona," said another witch, the one with five horns. "We were always great aunts, even when Sara and her girls were out o' the picture." She pushed Oona away and grabbed Eve in another bear hug. "I'm your Great-Aunt Brigid!"

"And I'm Shea!" said the one with the most horns—Eve got a little dizzy just looking at all those things poking through her silver curls. "I'm the one in charge of the dreams."

"In that case, we should thank you," said Kid. "If not for that dream, we probably would never have saved Ireland from the Brolla."

"And we never would have saved Eve and Macy's father, either," said Tsubaki. "Thank you, Witches." She dropped to one knee, and like dominoes the rest of the group bowed to Agda and her sisters.

Tsubaki put a hand on Eve's back. "You didn't just find your parents," she smiled. "You found an entire family."

Eve rested her head on her friend's shoulder. "Macy and I already had a family," she said. "All we did today was add to it."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Death City, at last. Eve was so happy to be home, she wished she could pull Lord Death down and smooch him right on the mask. Instead, she burst into tears.

Black*Star rolled his eyes. "Geez. So much crying."

Liz elbowed him roughly. "Shut up, Black*Star! She's had a very emotional few days!"

Their group had been a sight for sore eyes on the airplane, with their smelly, battle-worn clothes and loud companions (Kid threw a fit over the state of his suit), not to mention the twelve multi-horned witches in their medieval dresses and extravagant furs. The twins shared a bittersweet contentment, their mother and grandmother on either side of them, their friend all around them, and their father tucked safely inside Macy's soul.

"So, it looks like the Fannon girls had a successful trip!" Lord Death said when at last they had finished telling him of their long adventure. "I'm so proud of you, girls! And the rest of you, too, of course. Kid, I'll get you a new Beelzebub that's even better than the original—don't you worry!"

Kid flushed.

"I actually have a request," said Agda, stepping forward.

Lord Death clapped his giant hands. "Anything for an old friend!"

"My sisters and I were discussing earlier how inspired we've been by our adventure with your students, and we've decided we'd like to start a new branch of the DWMA, in Treetham."

"We'd be using our power to do some _real_ good for once," said Aoife, the Witch of Three Horns, "not just invading people's dreams."

"We can travel around Europe and find young people with dormant weapon and meister abilities, and train them to control those abilities. That way, no one else will have to go through what Eli Fannon and his family did," added Great-Aunt Mairéad.

"And we'd love for Sara, Macy and Eve to join us as teaching assistants," said Agda.

"I'm all for it!" the Grim Reaper exclaimed. "Ireland's very own Death Weapon Meister Academy—it's inspired! But as for sending my own students to work for you, I'm afraid that's up to them. Eve? Macy?"

Eve fidgeted and turned to her grandmother. "Um, the thing is…Death City will always be my home. Ireland's beautiful, and I love my new family. But I have to stay here." Macy chirped in agreement.

Agda smiled. "Of course. I understand. Your great aunts and I will visit your dreams often. And you can visit us, too! Just hop on a plane and come to Treetham whenever you want."

"I will," said Eve, and she gave her grandmother a grateful hug.

"If you don't mind, mother," said Sara, "I'll be moving here to Death City as well."

Macy's soul bubbled with joy, and Eve could've sworn she felt Eli's wavelength surge a little as well.

"Yay!" cheered Patty. "Happy endings are the best, aren't they, big sis?"

"Heh…" Liz said tearfully, "they're not too bad, I guess."

"Patty, would you like to keep these two fairies with you?" Agda asked. "They seem to have taken a liking to you, and I'd hate to separate three close friends.""Joomy! Grayson!" Patty squealed. "Yay!"

"Say 'thank you,'" Kid hissed in her ear.

Tsuabki wrapped Eve in a hug. "So I guess you'll be moving out to live with your mom?" she said, trying in vain to hide her sadness.

"We'll stay close by," Eve told her. "And you and Black*Star will always be my best friends."

"Hell yeah, we will!" Black*Star boomed, wrapping a strangling arm around Eve's neck. "Friends forever and all that!"

"Well now, this is about the most touching thing I've seen since High School Musical!" Lord Death said, his voice breaking. "Is everyone almost ready to get down to business? We have a new school to build, new Irish students to recruit, and of course our regular Academy business to maintain. Heavens, will we be able to do it all?"

"I'm pretty certain we can," said Eve. "Right, Macy?"

Inside her, Macy's soul danced with joy: A resounding _yes_!


End file.
